Months ago, a girlfriend, M, and I decided we were going to
plan a weekend girls only trip to New York.
It had been 2 years since my last trip and I was itching to go
back. My last trip, which was our “babymoon”
before The Luce was born was an amazing trip, filled with delicious food and
great sightseeing. I hoped this trip
would be the same, and it definitely was.
We knew 2 things: we
wanted to see a show and we wanted to eat a at celebrity chef’s restaurant. I was given free reign to plan the trip,
which is a dangerous thing, and was able to come up with what we both thought
was a great plan.
Megabus: this company
gets a bad rap for service, but truthfully, when you are paying $20 or less
each way, you probably shouldn’t complain too much. The trip up was great – uneventful, good
time, comfortable other than the guy snoring next to us like a dump truck. The drop off spot was only a couple blocks
from our hotel, so it was convenient for us, but the subway is close by to take
you elsewhere. The ride home was a
kerfuffle, as the pick-up spot is just a random block with regular street
traffic, and the Megabus employees told everyone for each destination to stand
in one line, regardless of reservation time.
It would have been easy to miss your bus if you were not pushy, as we
were. But, the ride itself was totally
fine. Ironically, Megabus has now
changed the pick-up spot and I hope it will decrease the chaos.
Staybridge Suites Times Square: GREAT location. We were at 40th & 8th,
which was right by a subway stop and just down from Times Square, which was
just where we wanted to be. The room was
inexpensive and we had a full kitchen, which we did not need, but would have
been great if traveling with The Luce.
We got a full, hot breakfast included as well. Happy campers! I would not hesitate to book here again.
Pizza Suprema: I
heard on the radio about a blog called Slice Harvester, where this guy ate at
every pizza place in NYC and rated them.
This was his number one place, and is just around the corner from where
Megabus drops off, so we went. Large
slices, clean restaurant, fairly quick service.
The crust was a tad crisper than I like and the sauce was too sweet for
me, but it was a decent slice. M liked
it more than I did, but neither of us thought it was worthy of anyone’s #1
spot.
Baked by Melissa: We
saw this cupcake place while walking around.
The tiny cupcakes displayed in the window sucked us in and we ordered
3. At $1 each for barely one bite, they
needed to be phenomenal cupcakes. They
were not. The cake was dry and
overcooked. The icing was either cloyingly
sweet or just gross. M thought the mint
cupcake tasted like toothpaste, which is always my fear with mint
desserts. All in all, this was a very
poor value and just a gimmick. Skip this
place.
Donut Plant: I’d seen
this place on a couple different Food Network shows and was anxious to try
it. I ordered a PB&J yeast donut,
recommended by the Neelys. M had a
blackout cake donut, which was chocolate cake with chocolate glaze and
chocolate filling. I totally got the
wrong flavor. Mine was kind of dried out
and way too big, but the one bite I had of M’s chocolate one was
delicious. I would go back here but
would get a different flavor.
The Highline: this is
an elevated park that runs downtown into the West Village. Very cool and worth checking out, especially
the neon yellow elevators every couple of blocks.
Chelsea Market: This
was on my must-see list for this trip and it did not disappoint. There are so many different little specialty
shops and restaurants, so much to see and taste. We enjoyed looking in the windows and
sampling the olive oil and vinegars and salts.
I will be taking BJ back here next time we go. We could be there for hours.
Barbuto: this was our
celebrity chef experience. Jonathan
Waxman was a favorite of mine on Top Chef Masters and is known for his roast
chicken, which I have read is one of the hardest dishes to perfect. Yelp told me to get the chicken and the
gnocci, which we did. We also had the
cheese plate and the crispy potatoes.
Everything was amazingly delicious.
Plus, the service was great and we ate right next to the open kitchen,
which was awesome, we could see everything being prepared. Mr. Waxman was also very present in the restaurant,
checking on things in the kitchen and milling about the tables. Highly recommended!
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever: We had booked tickets for this Broadway show
ahead of time, knowing that it might be a little odd. But, since Harry Connick, Jr. was in it, how
bad could it be? Wellllll, it was pretty
bad. M, a theatre buff, thought it was
solid from a performance point of view, but the script was horrible and I
agreed. Harry was good, but didn’t have
much material to work with. There was
one performer, the female leader played by Jessie Mueller, who was just fantastic. Ms. Mueller is definitely one to watch.
Wicked: The next day we spent a considerable amount of time trying
to get rush tickets, which are purchased at theatre box offices a couple hours
before the show at a huge discount. We
tried a few before giving up, but lucked into some cancellation tickets to
Wicked and jumped on them. The show, as
always, was fabulous, and made even more interesting by our theatre-newbie
seatmates who gasped and oohed and aahed through the whole thing.
John's Pizzeria: Just prior to the show, we had just enough time to run to
John’s and gobbled up a cheese pie.
This is real pizza, in my opinion.
Delicious ingredients, perfect crust, just all around yummy.
Junior’s: After the show, we were feeling like maybe dinner wasn’t a
good idea, since we’d eaten a late lunch, so we did what all good girls do and
went straight for dessert. We headed to Junior's for their famous cheesecake. I
opted for plain swirled with raspberry and M got a combination chocolate fudge
cake/plain cheesecake. Mine was great,
but hers was out of this world! We sent
a picture to BJ during the meal and he was quite jealous.
Veselka: The next morning we walked around the NYU area and had a
bite at Veselka, which is a Ukranian diner of sorts. A dear friend took me here a couple years ago
and I’d been dying to go back. I
indulged in some cheese and potato pierogi and M had blintzes. The perfect way to top off our great weekend!
New York is one of my favorite cities and I always see or
taste something new with each trip. As
BJ and I are going back this weekend, I’ll have a whole new adventure to share
very soon!!
